I'm in New Hampshire, one of the least Karstic states on the map. Although, given the sample size and large margin of error, maybe I should argue that it might really be the most Karstic. That's how this game is played, right?

According to the map I'm supposedly presently living a Kharst-derived sink-hole free bi-coastal life in New Orleans and Marina del Rey, but an ever-expanding sink-hole in northern Assumption Parish, La., would seem to belie that fact..

(PS: I saw enough mountainous Laotian & Vietnamese Kharst formations in two combat tours in SEA to last a lifetime..)

For all of those Global Warming alarmists crying about the rising ocean waters......the fact that much of Florida consists of limestone is evidence that much of Florida was under the ocean for a very very VERY long time.....and it might be again. So?

North Eastern California. Riddled with volcanic tunnels and domes that can collapse. Fortunately, no one has built any homes on top of those areas. The terrain is much to rugged and remote.

The article mentions The Burren in Ireland. It's an amazing area to visit, full of desolation and delights. There are stone cairns there, much older than the pyramids of Egypt. Wonderful caves to visit too.There is a huge ancient sinkhole 120 feet deep near Gainesville, Florida, called The Devil's Millhopper. It's a state park. There is a set of steps that go down to the bottom so you can see the geology of the place.

I grew up in a part of northern Alabama that on the Karst map has a big swath of dark green through it.

Once, when I was around 7 or 8, some buddies and I decided we were going to dig a hole as deep as we could in the back yard. So, we got various digging tools & dug & dug until about 3 ft. down, a hole about as wide as drinking glass mysteriously opened up at the bottom.

We wondered how deep the hole was, so I came up with the brilliant idea of pouring a glass of water down it to see what happened. I poured the water down and it just disappeared, as did the pebbles that followed after it.

We then decided that it was best to put the dirt back in the hole & we found another game to play for the day.

Or it would if we were talking about whether legislation to address the problems of the mid-20th century was no longer necessary, instead of making whimsical fantasy scenarios out of the sudden death of a human being.

Karst topography. Never thought I'd see a reference to that at Althouse. I used to do a lot of amateur spelunking. Fun if you're careful, potentially deadly if you're not. My brother and a a couple of friends went spelunking and one of his friends had to be pulled out by the rescue squad.

There's a lake in Knoxville named Dead Horse Lake. The story is a horse fell in a sink hole, died and clogged the sink hole and the lake formed. There's a nice golf course next to it now.

There's a system of caves and sink holes in west Knoxville called the Ten Mile Creek system. You cross Ten Mile Creek on I-40/75. About 2 miles south of there, the creek simply goes into a hillside and emerges 5-10 miles away. Don't go exploring it when it's raining.

I live in sinkhole country, about five years back, a new school over on the edge of the pine barrens other side of State College had a hole open up not long after it was built, caused millions in damage. I don't think I've ever heard of someone getting killed by one, though. Seems as if the rapid-fire sinkholes are more of a tropical thing? Might have something to do with violent downpours and the quality of the karst in question, too. I dunno, not really a geology expert.

Not from karst subsistence, no, I don't think. But the coal fires do cause collapses and all sorts of nastiness - flaming outbursts, poison outgassing, that sort of thing - and nobody's supposed to *be* in Centralia. I know urban spelunkers who have gone trespassing, but I never went with them. It's a bit of a drive from here, and I never was that interested.

It is disrespectful. She should shut up. The guy hasn't been dead long enough and being creative about your vision of his horrible death doesn't help anything. How shall we prefer to re-imagine genocide victims? What a tool.

And I'm safe and sound on the map. Nothing close to me. All sinkholes are man made here.

Because it was from the Althouse blog so I naturally read it in her voice at first? Or because it was that special combination of narcissistic and frivolously callous commentary that I associate with a subset of the fairer sex? (Like LOOK AT ME ... even this tragedy and example of human pain couldn't drag me away from looking in the mirror! Like, I am so, like sorry if you were offended at the literary direction of my mind!)